Gandhi Shirt

by Andrew Fassett

Why do people wear Che Guevara shirts? Che Guevara (Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna) was a socialist revolutionary who, through guerilla warfare, fought for the independence of several countries from US backed dictatorships. This is all well and good; I fully support opposition to US backed dictatorships (except Bush’s opposition to Saddam's regime), but nothing justifies violence.

Want a shirt that’s cool? Put Mahatma Gandhi’s face on it. Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) was a socialist revolutionary who, through nonviolent protest movements, fought for the independence of India from imperialistic Britain. He also, by the same nonviolent means, sought to bring Hindus and Muslims together under one country. As a result of his efforts, he was able to free many more people than Guevara ever did.

I’m not saying that Guevara didn’t do any good. Socialist reform and opposition to imperialistic authority is always a good thing. Guevara just went about it the wrong way. Violence is never justified, because it demonstrates a lack of reason and hurts people in the process. Violence only begets more violence. Putting Che Guevara’s face on a shirt is just as ludicrous as putting Mao Zedong’s face on a shirt.

In fact, I'm going to make and sell these Gandhi shirts. Kick-ass!

On further consideration, comparing Che Guevara to Mao Zedong is pretty rotten of me. I recognize that Mao was much, much worse than Che. This does not, however, change the point of my rantings. Buy a shirt!


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Yes, I got all of my information from Wikipedia. Please don't start wearing Mao Zedong shirts.

At last! My shirt is ready for the masses!/font>

Andrew - your design is now up on Ban T-shirts. By the way I was checking out the page where you talk about Gandhi and was surpised by this statement: "Che Guevara (Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna) was a socialist revolutionary who, through guerilla warfare, fought for the independence of several countries from US backed dictatorships. This is all well and good; I fully support opposition to US backed dictatorships (except Bush's opposition to Saddam's regime), but nothing justifies violence." You support Bush's invasion of Iraq? (Excuse me if I'm misunderstanding what you were saying)... If that is true I cannot understand how you could include the phrase "nothing justifies violence" in the same sentence (as well as criticising Che for his violence!)!! Anyway I'll let you know as soon as I get any sales. Thanks

The Dude
http://www.bant-shirts.com
Anti-Bush and political T-shirts

Dear Duncan,

I'm glad you're confused. Confusing people is something that I like to do on my website, so don't worry about it. I suppose the best way to clarify that statement is to rephrase it:"I fully support impeaching Bush for his invasion of Iraq, but any other opposition to US backed dictatorships is okay by me," or "I fully support any opposition to dictatorships backed by the US (other than Bush's opposition to Saddam's formerly US backed regime)," or "I fully support any opposition to dictatorships backed by the US, except in the case that Bush is opposing Saddam's regime," or even "I fully support opposition to US backed dictatorships, including opposition to Bush's dictatorship over the US, which has only lead to lies, theft and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people," or just "Opposition to US backed dictatorships is cool, except when Bush does it." I think that last one is the best... In any case, irony was the main purpose of my statement. I don't like violence, and Bush's war is no exception.

Anyway, I'll probably post this email (along with a link to the Gandhi shirt) somewhere on that page for future readers.

Nobi,

Andrew

I really should start putting my website at the end of my emails...